**6.1 San Clemente goat**

*Goats (Capra) - From Ancient to Modern*

*as a portion of the range of colors. Photo by D.P. Sponenberg.*

**52**

**Figure 6.**

**Figure 5.**

**6. Feral goats**

achieve this.

*Hair length and quality varies in the Myotonic breed. Photo by D.P. Sponenberg.*

Census figures from 2015 include 3500 new registrations. When mature stock is also considered, the final numbers of goats within the breed are likely to be around 10,000 or more. This was a rare breed 30 years ago, but has now become more popular and these population figures indicate that the breed is now secure from threats of extinction. Only a few large herds exist (100 head or more), and consequently the breed is exposed to many different breeding programs, each with a different selection goal. This helps to maintain diversity within the breed (**Figures 5** and **6**).

*These young Myotonic bucklings show the stout conformation and heavy muscling typical of the breed, as well* 

Feral goats are not common in the USA. A few strains do occur on islands, and some of these have a history of long-term isolation after a foundation event. These few have been targeted for conservation efforts due to their status as legitimate genetic resources. The long-term isolation provides for genetic adaptation to local conditions as well as for the development of a repeatable genetic package that is predictable. Populations with consistent introduction of new animals fail to

The San Clemente goat hails from the island of that name, having been introduced long ago from the neighboring Santa Catalina island. These islands are off the coast of California. The San Clemente goat was determined to have adverse effects on its island environment, and as a result was targeted for removal. After removal, a small representative group of these goats became the focus of a conservation effort in order to not completely lose the strain.

The majority of San Clemente goats have a specific color pattern that is basically tan on the rear half of the body, and black on the front half. There are tan facial stripes, and also black stripes on the fronts of the legs. This pattern is so common among these goats that when other color patterns arise they are usually targeted for elimination, even though early photographs of the goats from the island did show color variation. This pattern, though typical of San Clemente goats, also occurs in numerous other breeds worldwide.

The San Clemente goat is a small goat, with does about 30 kg and bucks about 45 kg. They have horns, and the character and shape of the horns does vary among the goats of the breed. Teat conformation has been a target of some selection, with breeders culling any that have extra teats or split teats. In a rare breed this may be overly harsh because this action removes entire genomes from the conservation effort.

Genetic studies on the San Clemente goat have not been all that helpful in untangling its relationship to other geographic sources of goats [2, 3]. This is likely due to genetic drift following long isolation after a founding event of relatively few goats. They have a few phenotypic similarities to Spanish goats, but are distinct enough to warrant their own independent conservation effort.

The most recent census figures for San Clemente goats are from 2015, when there were 229 males registered and 425 females registered. These resided on 79 different farms, indicating that the breed is generally found in relatively small herds which contributes to reasonably broad variation in the use of breeding males (**Figure 7**).
